Four winners in 'Dash' event

Monday, The Ardmore Chamber of Commerce in partnership with Ardmore Main Street Authority announced the winners of the third annual Dash for Santa's Cash at the monthly Business After Hours event.

Mita Bates, vice president of the Ardmore Chamber, said this year's turnout, both in businesses that participated and entries, was great.

"We nearly doubled the number of merchants that were involved this year," she said. "We had 43, and then nearly 30,000 tickets submitted.

"The hopper was nearly overflowing when we drew the names."

Dash for Santa's Cash is a promotion for local and downtown businesses that encourages local shopping in small businesses, primarily in the downtown area. In past years, the promotion has run for several weeks, but this year, Bates said the merchants asked for a change.

"They were concerned with how long it lasted, which was two to three weeks," she said. "They wanted it shorter, so this year we turned it into a four-day blitz and it turned out great."

The blitz was last week in participating stores around Ardmore. Shoppers had the option of putting their name into a box after purchasing items from those stores. After the blitz, all names were taken to the Chamber of Commerce and put in a hopper for Monday's drawing. Four winners would take home a combined $2,000 worth of Santa's Cash good at any of the participating stores for purchases.

All winners were notified immediately of their prize after the drawing.

"The fact that we have winners from other communities shows that people from outside of Ardmore are coming here to shop," Bates said. "It's very exciting to see that now and know that Ardmore is bringing in more than local shoppers.

"It was a tremendous success and to see the commitment from the community and from our retail stores is great."